


Fȇte des Lumières

by Enonimouse



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: December 2020 Advent Calendar, F/M, Miraculous Fanworks Discord Server Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:21:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27966740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enonimouse/pseuds/Enonimouse
Summary: Adrien whisks his wife away on a personal celebration. They go to The Festival of Lights in Lyon for the weekend. While there, they enjoy the festivities. Adrien has planned out small surprises for Marinette. However, by the end of the weekend their plans derail and they end up with a surprise that neither of them were expecting.Rated Teen+ out of an abundance of caution.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Sabine Cheng/Tom Dupain
Comments: 24
Kudos: 40
Collections: December 2020 - Advent Calendar





	1. Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien whisks his wife away on a personal celebration. They go to The Festival of Lights in Lyon for the weekend. While there, they enjoy the festivities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta's are the life blood of my work. I would be nowhere without all of the help it took to write this. This story just didn't want to flow for me (let me know if you find an awkward tense shift.... I have a problem.)
> 
> Thank you Betas!
> 
> Gigi_Bug, Khan, IzzyBusy, LadyCat, Summer, & GingerFae.

Lyon was only a two hour train ride from Paris.

Adrien knew that the thing his wife disliked the most about traveling was waiting to arrive. He could only remember a handful of times where she was relaxed during the commute and was able to enjoy herself. Once, when she was pregnant with Louis and they flew to Shanghai to visit Marinette’s grandparents, and a few times on class trips back in the day. She once told him that if she couldn’t run to her destination, then the second best way to get there is to sleep the whole way. Then when she wakes up she is already where she wants to be.

So when he had decided that he was going to plan a surprise romantic trip to celebrate the anniversary of their first date, he had started with things they could do in Paris. Small ideas, like eating at Andres, quickly turned into grander plans that included five star hotels and spa days. But all of those ideas fizzled when he overheard a couple discussing Lyon’s Fȇte des Lumières. It just felt _right_. After nine blissful years of marriage, a year of dating, and almost five years of partnership, he thought Marinette deserved a trip to see Lyon’s annual Fȇte des Lumières. He couldn’t believe that they had been a couple for ten years. He was so lucky.

He spoke with Tom and Sabine a few weeks back and they jumped at the chance to watch their grandkids for the whole weekend. Yesterday, he confirmed with Marinette’s assistant, Elaine, that she would handle all urgent messages.

Adrien witnessed first hand as Marinette built her brand—Marinette Agreste Designed Fashion, or MAD Fashion for short—through hard work, sweat, and tears. Last year, her dedication paid off as she was featured in Vogue Paris. Two days after the exposé hit the stands, her workload had tripled. Tom and Sabine offered to watch Louis and Emma more often and Adrien reduced his hours at work.

Within a few weeks it became evident that her modest boutique was too small to handle the number of incoming orders. It wasn’t long after that when she hired Elaine. But even now, nearly a year later, she _still_ dealt with an extraordinary workload. Somehow, she managed it, barely. Recently she began looking at larger commercial spaces available for lease and speaking with realtors.

Adrien finished reading Emma Le Petit Prince before tucking her in for the night. He dutifully checked under her bed and in her closet for monsters before plugging in her night light. With one last loving glance, he switched off the light and closed the door. He leaned against the doorframe to Louis’ room as Louis pleaded for “Just a few more minutes. Pleeease!”

“You’ve already had a few more minutes. Book down. It’s time for you to go to sleep.”

Louis eyed the book. Then, he fixed his face into a strikingly familiar pout and aimed it at his papa.

Adrien chuckled, “That won’t work on me. Your maman used that one too many times.”

Louis sighed and the pout easily slid from his face. Reluctantly, he set his book and his glasses on the nightstand. Adrien bid him goodnight, shutting the light off and closing the door.

Last year, before the article, Adrien would retire to his room after tucking the kids in. However, it had been a long time since Marinette went to bed at the same time as him. Instead he continued down the hall towards the office. The door was open a crack and waves of heated air poured into the cool hall. As he shuffled into the room he gently pushed the door closed behind him.

The room was bathed in darkness aside from a soft, warm desk light that illuminated her sleeping form. Her head was cradled in her arms on top of some sketches of the Spring line and some miscellaneous paperwork. Her pencil was clutched in the crook of her fingers and a small line of drool had dribbled down her cheek.

Adrien brushed her bangs from her face as her eyes slowly peeked open. With a small hum of appreciation, she eased an upright position. He rubbed soothing circles into her sore back.

“The kids are asleep. Come on, mon amour, let’s go to bed.”

Her shoulders tensed under his fingertips. Through her sleep-cracked voice she barely managed to protest.

“But the designs for the—”

Adrien cut her off. His fingers glided over to her shoulders and gently tugged at her in an attempt to get her up.

“—no buts. You’ve been working nonstop lately. You need some rest. Come on.”

Marinette let out a groan. She swung her leg out from underneath her and wiped her mouth on her sleeve. She stood up and stretched before she wrapped him in a sleepy bear hug, tucking her head against his chest. He quietly returned the hug, breathing in the scent of her strawberry and vanilla shampoo. They both remained entwined like that for a while.

“I love you, My Lady.” He placed a kiss over the top of her mussed bangs.

Her eyes were closed. However, a smile came to her face and a small hum escaped indicating that she was still awake.

“I love you too, mon Chaton.” The nickname rolled off her tongue.

Adrien leaned back and slid his hands down her arms until her delicate fingers laced in his. With a soft smile on his face, he led her out of the office and down the hall.

They tiptoed past the children’s rooms, pausing only to check on them.

Emma was fast asleep. Her blonde, chin length hair was the only thing visible above the covers.

From the hall they could hear Louis’ blanket quickly wrestled back into place and. In the dim light the outline of his book tucked against his side was plainly evident. The two parents shared a knowing look but let him be.

Adrien, having brushed his teeth earlier with Emma and Louis, quickly changed into sweatpants and an old t-shirt. Marinette split off with a kiss towards the master bathroom. Adrien was already in bed by the time she returned with damp hair. She snuggled in tight against his side.

“Marinette?”

“Hmm?”

“I have a surprise planned for you this weekend.”

She shifted around a couple of times until satisfied. “What’s the occasion?”

“Well, ten years ago yesterday you accidentally detransformed in the same alley as me.”

With a sleepy smile she added, “And so ten years ago today you told me you were in love with me. All of me.”

“And I do believe you stuttered through something to that effect as well.” He chuckled as her cheeks pinkened in the moonlit room. “Which means ten years ago tomorrow, I got to go on a first date with the love of my life.”

Marinette sat up and leaned over him. She gently cupped his cheek before sweetly kissing him. “You don’t have to go through any trouble to surprise me, mon Chaton. This home we’ve built together, our beautiful kids, that is all I need.”

“I know, Bugaboo. But I figured that between everything going on at work and the kids, you could use a break, and this is the perfect excuse to get away.”

“Get away? Are we going somewhere?”

Adrien snaked a hand out from under the covers and booped her on the nose “Yes, and that is the only hint you’re going to get.”

“I’ll figure it out, you know. I always do, in the end. Emma and Louis will be excited. They love going on trips.”

“They also love spending the weekend helping out at the bakery. I’m taking them over in the morning before we leave.”

“Maman and Papa know about this?”

Adrien grinned. “They’ve known for weeks!”

“Weeks? How long have you been planning behind my back?”

“A while. I packed Louis and Emma’s weekend bags, something for us too, I even have the tickets for the train.” He gave her a smug grin.

“You’ve thought of everything, haven’t you?” Marinette hugged his torso and tangled her feet with his.

He whispers, “I guess you’re rubbing off on me.”

“I guess so.” She hummed in return.

~♡~

Their trip was not off to a good start and they haven’t even left the house. When they woke up, Adrien leaned in for his good morning kiss but instead was met by Marinette’s palm. She shoved his face away and stumbled into the bathroom, retching. Emma was cranky and Louis was being difficult.

“I don’t need babysitters. I’m almost 8!” Louis pouted at the breakfast table.

“Louis, Grandma and Grandpa are looking forward to seeing you. Go on—go get dressed!” Adrien kneeled next to the kitchen table to help Emma with her socks. She continued to obstinately contort her ankles and toes into bizarre angles in hopes of avoiding the socks.

Louis’s eyebrows scrunched in displeasure. “No. I don’t wanna go.”

“Why not? You love visiting Grandma and Grandpa.”

“I wanna go with you and maman.”

“I know, little man. But your maman needs a break from work and I’m going to make sure she takes it. How about this. We’ll get you and Emma a gift while we’re there.”

“A gift?”

“Yes, now go on, go get dressed before I change my mind!”

Louis hopped down off of the chair and ran up the stairs to his room. He bumped into Marinette on her way down to the kitchen.

Marinette always resembled a zombie in the mornings, but this morning she was even worse. She gripped a blanket around her shoulders as she made a beeline to the coffee pot. Tugging the last sock up Emma’s ankle, Adrien spun around to stop her from grabbing coffee.

“Aren’t you and Alya betting who can go without coffee longer?”

“Maybe. But… COFFEE?”

“Marinette.”

“What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her?”

“But you would know.”

“I would.” Marinette slumped over to a kitchen chair.

Adrien grabbed a glass and filled it with some orange juice from the fridge and set it in front of her. He kissed her head and left the room to check on Louis.

~♡~

By the time they finally dropped the kids off they were running late. They ended up making a mad dash for their train and just barely caught it before it departed. They quickly found their seats. An older couple sat in the seats across the aisle from them, bickering in low voices. The train car was packed and Adrien ended up holding their bags on his lap for the entire ride. After some light conversation, Marinette drifted to sleep, her head leaning on his shoulder.

Adrien dozed a little during the ride but never fell into a deeper sleep like his wife. As the train neared Lyon, the other passengers rustled with their things and discussions grew louder. Adrien smiled at Marinette who was still sleeping soundly through all of the noise. She must have been working herself even harder than he had originally thought.

When he could see the outskirts of Lyon, he nudged her awake.

“We’re almost there. How are you feeling? Any better from this morning?”

“Much better.” She yawns.

The train pulled into the station with the loud squeal of the metal brakes. Adrien and Marinette patiently wait as a few of the more hurried passengers grab their bags and rush towards the exit. Then, they leisurely grabbed their own luggage and left the train station hand in hand.

Adrien hailed a cab and they rode to Grand Hôtel-Dieu.

Checking in didn’t take too long. Although Adrien was ansty from the anticipation of what he called ahead to set up. When Marinette opened the door to their hotel room there were two towel swans at the edge of the bed, a bouquet of red roses, and a box of chocolates waiting for her.

“Oh, mon Chaton, you didn’t have to!” She exclaimed.

“I wanted to. I love you, Marinette.”

They settled their luggage down on the beds and immediately they headed back out again. Adrien had pre-planned a visit to one of the light art installations and its last night was tonight. Unfortunately it was too far to walk. When they exited the cab, they found a crowd formed around a large bubble-like thing that glowed red from the inside.

As they got closer they could see that a robotic arm was inside. A nearby child, hefted up in the arms of his mom, giggled and laughed loudly and the robotic arm moved towards him as if to say hello. Marinette patiently waited her turn as people who once crowded near the front made their way to other light installations around the city.

Adrien and Marinette marveled at the art piece. Through the fog that is being pumped into the bubble, it appeared that the robotic arm had escaped from an assembly line. Which made a lot of sense as the piece was named “Trapped”; The implications left them with an ominous appreciation for how far the world had come with robotics. While they were on their way to the next art installation, Adrien commented how Max would love to see the pictures they got of “Trapped”.

Next they stopped by a beautiful shadow art piece titled “Nocturne”. The sound effects that accompanied the silhouettes of deer, foxes, wolves, and owls made it feel like they had ventured into a forest in the middle of the city. Marinette later claimed that it was a bit unnerving while Adrien argued that it had felt more freeing than anything else.

Nearing 11pm, they stopped at Les Lumignons du Coeur light installation that occupied the Place de la République. A small booth advertised that for only two euros, they could buy a candle and could contribute to the beauty around them. Les Lumignons du Coeur was composed of more than 5,000 candles flickering on the sills of 1,200 windows, casting blue shadows about the square. The fountain in the center reflected images created by a tree of mirror with their own floating candle joining those in the water.

~♡~

The next morning Adrien awoke with a sore back and he was still a little tired. While Grand Hôtel-Dieu was very luxurious, his back seemed to have grown picky about the mattress.

He sat up, yawned and stretched. But when he turned to say ‘goodmorning’ to his wife she wasn't in bed. Light filtered in through the small slit in the blinds. The bathroom light was also on, illuminating the small entrance.

As he trudged over to the bathroom, he called out to her, “Are you already getting dressed in there? Couldn’t wait for the festivities could you?” His grin falls when he sees that the door is open and Marinette is curled up on the cold tiling floor. Her arm is slung over the seat of the toilet and her forehead is resting on it. She could be asleep, but he can't be sure.

“Marinette? Are you feeling okay?” She groans in response.

“Do you need me to get you something? Water? A cup of ice?”

“No, I’m fine. I think I caught a bug. I don’t feel good.”

He snatched a cup anyway and filled it with water from the faucet before he knelt next to her. She lifted her head and he handed her the cup. As she sipped on it gingerly, he rubbed small circles into her back. They sat like that for a while with little improvement to Marinette's state before Adrien asked if he should run to a store and buy some medicine. Marinette only nodded her head in response. Spotting the goosebumps that peppered her arms, he grabbed a large white bathrobe off the rack and draped it around her shoulders.

Adrien kissed her temple in parting. Marinette lamely batted at his arm to get him to leave. While she understood that he was concerned, she didn’t like him to fuss over her too much when she didn’t feel well. It was almost suffocating at times.

Adrien threw on his clothes and slipped his boots on before rushing out the door. As he walked down the carpeted hall he slid his coat on and adjusted it. The elevator doors are shut before he reaches them so he diverts to the stairs, taking them two at a time.

At the concierge desk he is forced to wait for the receptionist to finish a phone call. With great impatience, Adrien drums his fingers against the counter and fidgets with the gold bell. Years of conditioning doesn’t allow him to ‘ _ring for assistance_ ’. After a few minutes he contemplates it, but then another receptionist appears out of the back room with a bright smile on her face. But no, they do not carry any pain relievers or nausea reducers. But there is a corner store not too far away that might.

Adrien dashed out of the building, repeating the directions under his breath.

_Out the doors to the right. Across the bridge. Straight for a block. Store on the left._

_Out the doors to the right. Across the bridge. Straight…_

The corner store was crowded with tourists and nearly empty shelves. He has to track down an employee in order to find out where the nausea medicine might be located because after looking at all of the shelves twice he can’t find it. Unfortunately, the store clerk says that they’re out of stock. A stomach bug is going around and with so many tourists… they are out of stock for at least another week.

Frustrated and getting nowhere, Adrien whips his phone out to see if Google can direct him to some nausea medication. Halfway through typing it into the search bar, Marinette calls. She’s feeling a bit better than before. She didn’t mean to cause him any hassle. She will be fine. She just wants him to be with her. That will make her feel much better. Please return, mon Chaton.

He so badly wanted to return _with_ the medicine. But he can’t leave his Lady waiting. So he sprints back to the hotel. Dashing through the doors and down the hall and ignoring the elevator altogether.

He arrived at the room only slightly winded. He hadn’t had to run like that since Marinette went into labor with Emma four years ago.

He patted down his pockets with the grave realization that he had grabbed his wallet but not his room key before leaving. Adrien reluctantly knocked on the room door, mentally punishing himself for making his sick wife let him into the room.

But when she opened the door she’s already dressed for the day. Her hair is pulled back into a low ponytail and she has a hat on.

“Maybe I ate something bad last night and it just hit me this morning.” Marinette shrugged.

“So you’re okay now?”

“Not 100, but good enough to go and get breakfast!” She answered honestly.


	2. Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien whisks his wife away on a personal celebration. They go to The Festival of Lights in Lyon for the weekend. While there, they enjoy the festivities. Adrien has planned out small surprises for Marinette. However, by the end of the weekend their plans derail and they end up with a surprise that neither of them were expecting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, many thanks to my beta readers. For this final chapter, Gigi_Bug gave me some great ideas on where to expand and what seemed to be a reiteration of a point that was already stated (among many other things). Thank you Gigi_Bug! 
> 
> Also, thank you for reading, commenting, and bestowing kudos upon this little addition to the ML Fanworks Advent Calendar! See Chapter 3 for a mini epilogue!
> 
> Enjoy!

Adrien sat on the corner of the bed and leaned over to tie his muddied shoe laces. He reached for his overshirt, pulling it out of his suitcase. Shrugging off his jacket, he slid his arms through the sleeves of the shirt and fixed the buttons on the cuffs. Popping his jacket back on overtop he snatched the room card off his night stand and started towards the door where Marinette waited.

On their way to the lobby, Marinette flipped through some of the local attraction brochures and selected the one detailing the Fȇte des Lumières art installations. She tucked it in her purse fully planning on spreading it out over their table in a moment.

They arrived at the dining room, curious to see what was available for the complimentary breakfast, to find that the room was almost entirely filled with quietly chattering families. Some of the younger kids were bleary eyed at their tables while older ones kept dashing back to the waffle maker and spraying large amounts of whip cream on their food. Adrien’s eyes tracked two small children who dashed away from their parents to grab their food. Glancing back at the parents he watched them tend to their littlest ones.

The father had a toddler curled up over his shoulder and chewing on his thumb while straining with a car seat in his other hand. He set the car seat down on the chair next to him. His wife leaned in close and she gently nuzzled the small boy while simultaneously reaching an arm around her husband to hug him. Two older children returned to the table balancing glasses of juice nearly filled to the brim and plates full of all of the breakfast goodies.

Adrien turned back to Marinette with purpose.

“What?” She asked.

“I just miss it, that’s all.”

“Miss what?”

“The little fingers and tiny toes. Baby smell.”

“You miss the _smell_?” One of her eyebrows arched high onto her forehead and she tilted her head to the side.

“Not _that_ smell. _The_ smell. You know, the new baby smell. Don’t deny it, I know you miss it too.”

Marinette smirked. “Yeah. I guess I do miss it.”

“So do you want to do this again?”

“Do what…?” She carefully asked. She figured she knew what her husband was referring to but it would be better to have him say it than to guess, and end up wrong.

“Get us some new baby smell. Try for another. Emma did say that she wanted a little sister.”

“Emma was asking for a little sister? Well then, I guess we have to have another kid.” She quipped. “You do know Emma would be just as happy with a new doll.”

“I wouldn’t. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I am happy. I am happier than I ever thought I would be. But a doll just won’t quite cut it for this guy. Plus I seem to remember not long after Louis was born you said something about wanting at _least_ three.”

“You can’t blame me for saying that. I was high off the new baby smell and sleep deprived.” She sat down with a rather serious look on her face. Fishing it out of her purse, she began to spread the program for the weekend out on the table.

“Really? You don’t want to have another kid?” Adrien asked.

Marinette smiled up at him. “Of course I want another kid. I think I’ve wanted to have three kids since before Lycée, even! But do you remember last year when we celebrated that Emma was finally done with diapers? You told me that was it. You didn’t want to see another diaper ever again. You even baked a cake to commemorate the moment. And you insisted that we donate the rest of our stash to Alya and Nino. I think there was even a little song and dance, too!”

“Ohh no!” Adrien chuckled as Marinette first began to hum the tune to his ‘The Last Diaper’ song.

After a moment the words started to come back to her.

“The diapers are done! The diapers are done! We’ve used the last one, and now we won’t have to ever use anoootherrrr.” She smiled before she bit her lip, steadying herself to continue what she wanted to say. Taking a deep breath and looking at her lap, she quietly finished, “I thought that meant you didn’t want anymore. And, I don’t know. I kinda got used to the idea of only two.”

“I thought by now you would be used to my dramatic personality.” He put a hand over his heart and posed with a hurt expression.

“Oh if only the world had no more diapers!” With a flourish of his arm, he rested the back of his palm against his forehead and shifted his expression into something that would qualify him for a role on a soap opera. But he couldn’t keep it up for long. His facade crumbled and he started to laugh. Marinette couldn’t help but laugh at her husband’s silly antics.

“In all seriousness, I would like another one. If you aren’t 100% on board with having another kid then we don’t have to. But, just so where I am at with it is clear, I want another kid.”

“Me too.” Marinette looked at him from under her eyelashes. “So we are doing this?” She returned his smile and gave a nod of her head.

To which Adrien naturally responded, “Wanna get started making babies?” Adrien wiggled his eyebrows.

“Ohh it’s _babies_ now, huh? More than one? That is a whole other discussion” She leaned over the table and he met her halfway. She was less than an inch away and she closed the gap to kiss him. Before leaning back she whispered, “I could be down for that. But let’s make a deal right here hot stuff. We can do bab _ies_ if you change all the diapers.” She watched as he sunk back into his chair.

“Diapers?” he echoed.

“Can we agree that four would be too many for us?”

“We could never have too many kids!”

“But four? Just look at that poor family over there.”

When Adrien had first observed them, they seemed like the ideal family; happy, loving, and having a wonderful trip. At a second glance he noticed a few more things. Both parents had bags under their eyes. The mother was trying to keep the baby from waking up while the older two shrieked and giggled. One of them bumped the father’s arm and the sleepy toddler popped his thumb out of his mouth and began to cry. Not long after, the mother had to pull back the blanket from over the car seat and pick up the baby as it joined in, wailing.

The father barked something at the older two children and they quieted down for roughly thirty seconds. Adrien turned back to his wife.

“But we can handle anything if we’re together. And besides, our kittens are definitely more well-behaved than that. Emma’s sudden aversion to socks notwithstanding.”

“I know, mon Chaton. Let’s just not get too far ahead of ourselves on a fourth kid, we don’t even have a third yet.”

“Okay. You have a point.”

Their discussion moved on to planning which light shows they wanted to visit next. Marinette was surprised to find that even the Grand Hôtel-Dieu had its own show planned for later.

After breakfast they went for a walk along the Rhȏne. They facetimed Sabine to check in on the kids. She walked the camera into the kitchen where Louis and Tom were covered in flour but proudly showing off the dough they had just made. Emma stood nearby wearing one of Tom’s large aprons. She didn’t have a smudge of flour on her.

“And Grandpa said that after it bakes we can have it for lunch!” Emma cut in. Her head barely came up to the top of the counter. She reached over the edge and poked the dough where it rested on the cutting board.

“I said we could have it _with_ lunch.” Tom cut in. “So how are you doing sweetie? Are you two enjoying yourselves up there?”

“Yes! It is so beautiful here at night. Next year we should all come down for the festival.” Marinette beamed.

From Sabine’s screen, Tom watched as Adrien turned to look at Marinette and said, “Well that might be harder than you think if we have a new baby.”

Sabine immediately straightened.

“A new what?” Louis inquired. Tom motioned to Sabine and she carried the phone back out of the room. Over the line, Adrien and Marinette could hear Tom distracting the two kids by asking if they wanted to bake a cake for dessert.

Once Sabine made it into a separate room she turned back to her phone where she watched as her daughter and her son-in-law playfully argued about when it was “too soon” to say something.

“You’re pregnant?” Sabine cut in, ansty to hear if she was going to have another grandbaby to spoil.

“Not yet.” Marinette smiled into the camera.

“We’re going to try again!” Adrien added.

“Well congratulations are in order then. I’ll let your papa know when the kids have gone to sleep. I’m sure he is fraught with anticipation. I have no doubt he is already thinking up baby names to give you two suggestions.”

“Then tell him to keep them coming.”

Adrien turned to look at Marinette, the smallest bit stunned. She had seemed reserved if not hesitant this morning but looking at her now, she was confident in their decision. She was so beautiful and he was so lucky to have her as his wife.

~♡~

“You know, I’ve been thinking about our discussion this morning with maman.”

“You’ve changed your mind?” Adrien teasingly poked her on the nose.

“No, I haven’t changed my mind, you silly kitty. I was just thinking that now, I can throw away this!” She held up her birth control pills with a wide smile.

“Music to my ears, bugaboo. Can I do the honors?” He held his hand out and she dropped the small container into his palm.

“And I was almost out too!”

“It’s fate. Looks like you only had… five left.” Adrien fiddled with the container and then dropped it unceremoniously into the wastepaper basket. Marinette immediately dove her hand in after it.

“What?!” She exclaimed.

“No! We don’t need that anymore!” Adrien, too stunned to stop her from retrieving it a moment ago, tried to grab it back out of her hands to throw it away again.

Marinette batted his hands away. “No, it’s not that. I should have three left. My phone reminder went off earlier this morning to call in my refill. You must have miscounted.” She immediately began fiddling with the clasp to the container.

“Miscounted? I don’t think so. Trust me, my dear, I can count to five quite easily on my own.” He teased. “It shouldn’t matter anyways whether you have three or five left. We’re throwing them out.”

The container finally popped open in her hands and she stared on with pure shock.

“But it _does_ matter. I must have missed it _twice_! Which means that I could be…”

“You aren’t though. Right? You would know if you were.”

“Right. I’m not. I can’t be. I guess… I did miss my period, but that happens when I’m on these pills. I mean, what are the chances that I don’t take the pill twice and that just so happens to be when we...?”

“I don’t know.” Adrien opened his phone and google searched ‘How many pills do you have to miss to get pregnant’. Marinette began pacing. “It says here that if you miss it twice you can become pregnant within the next week even if you start taking the pills again.”

“What?!” Marinette flopped face down onto the bed. “I’m not ready for this. We can’t be pregnant already!”

“I thought…”

“Yes! And I do still want to. It’s just, I was thinking that we’d start trying and maybe it wouldn’t happen for a few more months?” The bed moved as Adrien sat down next to her. “I could have time to find my concept designs for baby clothes—oh no! The shop!! How am I going to keep running the boutique with a baby? Let alone move locations or—”

“Marinette! Calm down, Milady. We don’t know if you even are pregnant. And if you are, then we can do this, remember? We have two beautiful children as proof that we can do this.”

She lifted her head up from the comforter where it had been buried a moment before. “We can do anything if we’re together.” She whispered. Marinette took a moment and steadied her breathing.

“Now, I can go back to that corner shop and pick up a test, and if it’s positive then we can schedule an appointment with your doctor when we get back into town to confirm. Okay?”

“Okay.” She nodded. Adrien grabbed his coat and slipped his shoes back on. Double checking once again that his room key was in his pocket. On his way out the door, Marinette ran from the bed to latch onto his shoulders in a parting hug.

“Pick up three. From different brands.” After a brief pause she added, “I love you so much. Thank you.”

~♡~

When Adrien returned, Marinette was bouncing a little on the edge of the hotel bed, drinking a glass of water. Next to her was the ice bucket. While he was gone, she had dumped their remaining ice into the sink and filled the bucket with water from the tap. Every time she finished a glass, she poured a new one from the ice bucket and sipped on it until it was gone.

Leaving the nearly empty ice bucket and her glass on the nightstand, she grabbed the small bag from his hands and disappeared behind the bathroom door.

After a moment or two her whine echoed out. “I need more water!”

He grabbed the ice bucket and filled it again then passed it through the bathroom door along with her cup. It was twenty minutes before she emerged.

She set the three pregnancy tests on the counter and sat down next to him.

“And now we wait.”

“How long?”

“These two said two minutes. But this one” she points to the one on the left, “This one is supposed to be able to have a result in one minute according to the box. I’ve got a timer going.”

“What’s it at?”

“28 seconds left before we check the first one.”

“28 seconds. Okay. We can do 28 seconds.”

“You good?” Marinette asked.

“Me? What, no. I’m fine. I want this. I mean, if you’re… and we’re. I’m fine!”

Marinette looked at her husband skeptically before she threaded her fingers with his, giving his hand a small squeeze. “We do this together. Whether that means pregnant now, or later. Okay?”

“When did you get to be so calm about all this? I thought I was the one comforting you.”

“You were at the store for awhile. I really only needed to listen to what you were telling me earlier. Adrien, if I am pregnant again then this baby is going to be the luckiest baby ever. Right next to Louis and Emma, for having you as it’s papa.”

Adrien’s eyes watered a bit. She had reassured that he was an amazing father on multiple occasions. She knew that he often doubted his choices, even more so when going to work meant missing something at home. Which is mainly why he had been a stay-at-home parent after Louis was born. Only returning to work when Marinette opened her first store-front, so that they could afford the investment.

She reached out with her other hand and caressed his cheek with her thumb, wiping away one lone tear that managed to escape.

“Doubly lucky. You’d be it’s maman.” Adrien leaned his head into her palm, closing his eyes. A few more tears escaped and she leaned forward to kiss them away.

The timer on her phone beeped.

They both straightened, looking into each other’s eyes.

“This is it. Do you want to look, or should I?” Marinette dropped her left hand from his cheek and grabbed the pregnancy test from the counter without looking at the results. Between them, he squeezed her right hand, which was still firmly latched with his.

“Like everything else, milady, we do this together.”

“Together.” She echoed as their eyes dropped down to the test in her hands.

“Two lines… what does that mean again?” Adrien asked.

“That’s not two lines! Is it?”

“I think it is. One is kinda faded but I’d say that’s two.”

“Maybe it isn’t two lines and they both kind of started there to begin with? Was there lines to begin with?”

“I don’t know, you’re the one who took the test!”

They both looked back down at the test.

“That is definitely two lines.”

“Okay but is two lines pregnant or not? And I’m still not convinced that counts as two lines. That second one is barely there.”

“Google says two lines is pregnant and one is not.”

“What does it say about one line and another faded line?”

“One second.” Adrien hummed while he typed the new question into the search bar. “A very faint line on a pregnancy test usually means that implantation has occurred and you’re in the early stages of pregnancy… but you’ll want to test again.”

“Of course you’ll want to test again. Using lines at all means you bought a cheap test. These are weird brands too. I’ve never even heard of this brand. How much did it cost?”

“I don’t think that really matters right now. What matters is that not _all_ of them were cheap and the other two will tell us what we need to know for sure. How much time do we have left on the last two?”

“I don’t know! I only set the first timer and then with wanting to know and everything I forgot to reset it.”

“It’s probably been about another minute. Let’s check them!”

“Okay, i’ll look at the one on the left, you look at the one on the right.”

“Deal.” Setting the first test to the side, Marinette reached for the next one in line. Adrien grabbed the last one.

At the same time they flipped them over and Marinette shouted “No!” while Adrien shouted “Yes!”. They immediately switched tests.

“That doesn’t make any sense!” Marinette exclaimed in frustration. The test she looked at first read negative. But at the same time, the test Adrien looked at said ‘pregnant’.

“Wait, you were upset?”

“Of course I was upset. It had one line. That’s two ‘not pregnants’.”

“One and a half ‘not pregnants’.” Adrien corrected, “But also one and a half ‘pregnants’... so…”

“So we don’t know anything. Inconclusive.”

“Not necessarily. Do your Ladybug thing.”

“My Ladybug thing?”

“Yeah, you know. Figure it all out is some absurd convoluted way that totally makes sense afterwards.”

Marinette shot him an unamused look before she stood up and began pacing again. She brought her hand to rest delicately on her chin with her other arm supporting her elbow. She hummed a tune while she thought. Then all of the sudden she exclaimed, “Ha! The receipt _does_ matter.”

She reached forward and fished it out of his jacket pocket. “Okay so… the first one was severely underpriced… but this second one. Why is it marked half off?”

“I don’t know. I just figured it was a good deal. Half off is not a good deal?”

“Half off is a great deal on clothes or diapers but not on pregnancy tests. I wonder if it's…” She trailed off and made a beeline to the bathroom counter. There she grabbed the box of the second test she looked at. The ‘negative’ test. When she reemerged she was pointing at something on the side of the box.

“What year does that look like to you? I can’t read it.”

“I think that’s a 3.”

“I think so too. So if it's a 3 and not an 8 then this expired almost two years ago. This test is useless.”

“Expired? I didn’t even know pregnancy tests could expire.”

“Well they can!” Marinette quipped.

“If it’s expired then we are at one and a half ‘pregnants’ and only a half ‘not pregnants’. Marinette, my love, I think we’re pregnant.”

Tears dripped from her eyes. “We’re pregnant? I’m...”

“Yes!” Adrien reached forward and held his wife in his arms as she cried into his sleeve. After she calmed down, he had to ask, “Are you happy?”

“Of course! These are good tears. We’re having another kid!”


	3. Epilogue

“How are we going to tell your parents? You just told them yesterday that we weren’t pregnant.”

“I’m not sure… I guess it will be a good surprise for them too.” She smiled as she hit the button on her phone to facetime her maman.

“Hello Marinette!”

“Maman, we have some good news. Where’s Papa?”

“I think he is putting Emma down for a nap. She was extra fussy this morning. Louis is upstairs in the spare bedroom playing with his new toys.”

“New toys?”

“Yes, we got them some new toys to play with. Emma got a new doll. And we got Louis one of those solar system lights that light up the ceiling at night and some books he had mentioned last time he was over.”

“Maman, we don’t have any more room for—that’s not the point. The point is we have some news. So please go get papa. We want to tell you both at the same time.”

Sabine muttered mutinously under her breath about not being allowed to spoil her grandbabies. She went into Marinette’s old room which Emma now used whenever she was over. She found Tom snoring, squished next to Emma on an impossibly tiny bed. She nudged her husband awake.

“Wha?”

“Tom, dear, Marinette and Adrien have some more news for us.” She motioned to the trap door. He slowly extricated himself from Emma’s sleeping form. The two of them went down into the living room. On the way down, Sabine handed Tom her phone and he exchanged his greetings with Marinette and Adrien.

“You two should sit for this.” Marinette began.

“That’s not a good sign.” Tom commented as he took a seat on the sofa next to his wife.

“This time it is. Maman, Papa, we’re pregnant!”

Tom immediately began to cough. Sabine interrupted.

“I thought you two would know this by now. You can’t know that quickly if you’re pregnant or not. I _told_ M. Damocles that the school was lacking in its sexual education. It seems he didn’t listen.”

“No, maman, we know that. But it turns out… well. We were pregnant yesterday, and I just didn’t realize it yet. And I took three tests last night, and well one of them was negative but that one was expired. And the other had a faint line, but with those quick results ones, you never really know. But the last one said pregnant for sure. And I took two more this morning and they both also said pregnant. And well with all the—”

“Marinette, sweetie, you’re rambling.”

“Sorry. I’m just so excited. We’re excited.” She clarified.

“You know,” Tom began, “I’ve been thinking up some pretty good names for you. I was thinking if it’s a girl, you should name her after your grandma Gina and if it's a boy you should name him after your great uncle, Hugo.”

**Author's Note:**

> Want to talk with like-minded fans? Share ideas, fics, art, and more? How about participate in fandom events and receive support for your ideas and work?
> 
> Then join the [Miraculous Fanworks Discord Server](https://discord.com/invite/mlfanworks)!


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